On week one I spent four hours in the lab. During this time, I worked on removing caliche from the underside of the pice of Jane's leg bone I've been working on. It took a while for me to get through the caliche and actually reach bone. This was due to the thick layer of caliche and the fact that I didn't know where there was bone and where there wasn't. Needless to say it was a very slow, but rewarding, process. Once I reached the bone I spent the rest of my time in the lab slowly removing caliche outwards until I had made a decent hole in it. In order to better see the bone I dipped a q-tip in water and used it to remove the remaining dirt. That was a very rewarding moment because I finally had a really good view of the bone I had been working on exposing for four hours.
During week two I spent three hours at the museum. Ian came with me, like normal, but since he had finished his scientific illustration the week before and David was out of town I got to show him what I do. I had him organize bits of bone from the spoil pile to try and get an idea of what everything was. While he did that I worked on removing more caliche from the front of Jane's leg bone with the air scribe. Then I got the explain to him what all the things from the spoil pile actually were and how they fit together, or didn't. Finally I taught him how to used the air scribe and helped him to try it on a bit of spoil bone. He did a really good job, and told me he had a new appreciation for what I do in the lab.
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